[Use of self-rating instruments with elderly hospital patients]. / Anwendung von Selbstbeurteilungsinstrumenten bei älteren Krankenhauspatienten.

The usefulness of self-rating instruments for measuring the emotionality of elderly and/or physical ill individuals is discussed. Therefore, 99 inpatients of internal wards (mean age: 65) were examined with the German form of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Laux et al., 1981). All the problems which arose when the test sheet was filled out were recorded and subsumed into one of the following categories: comprehension problems, problems with the answer categories, answer tendency, problems with layout. As expected, we were able to show that practical problems increase as patients become older. None of the patients over 80 years was able to complete the scale without considerable help in a standardized manner. We recommend to use structured interviews for assessing the emotional state of elderly patients.

[Development of a structured anxiety interview for seniors]. / Entwicklung eines strukturierten Angstinterviews für Senioren.

Since we face considerable practical problems in the assessment of elderly subjects with self-rating instruments (paper-pencil tests) measuring anxiety and, since we lack norms for the age of 65 and above, we developed a structured inventory (SAIS) for the assessment of anxiety in the elderly. The instrument comprises three components, anxiety normally is expressed in; all have been verified by empirical personality research: the cognitive, the physiological and the behavioural component. In a pilot study, we determined themes of anxiety relevant to elderly people. When the items were developed, we took into account aspects of the typical environment of the elderly and their comprehensive ability. In a reliability study 54 subjects (mean age: 72 years) were investigated. Item analyses showed low to average item difficulties and average selectivity. The split-half-reliability coefficient was rtt = .95; the internal consistency-coefficient was rtt = .91 (Kuder-Richardson). In a factor analysis five factors were extracted. They were interpreted as 'general' anxiety ("allgemeine Angstlichkeit"), as nervousness ("Neigung zu Nervosität"), fear of physical disability ("Furcht vor motorischer Behinderung"), personal insecurity ("persönliche Unsicherheit") and fear of helplessness ("Furcht vor Hilflosigkeit"). Finally, aspects of internal validity are discussed.